Displaying items by tag: Austria

US/Austria: Sempertrans USA, part of Semperit Group, and Shaw Almex Industries have agreed to end a cooperation agreement for the North American conveyor belt market. The agreement was originally set up in 2016. Sempertrans USA has set up a sales and distribution organisation for conveyor belts in North America and it will use this to serve its customers. Tim Shaw, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Shaw Almex, said that both companies had agreed that it would be better if they acted independently so that they could be more ‘flexible’ in handling their respective customers.

Austria: Lindner has appointed four new members of its international sales team to cover the Americas and Asia. Christopher Howard has become the general manager for Lindner America covering the shredder manufacturer’s North American operations. Jeff Wolfe has become the sales manager for Lindner America’s Waste Division. Frederico Hartmann has responsibility for the company’s plastics division in Latin America. Gerhard Gamper becomes a sales manger in the Waste Division for Asia.

Germany: Cemtec has successfully transported a 170t cement grinding mill from its headquarters in Enns, Austria to a client in Bavaria. The transported equipment had an internal diameter of 4.6m, an outside diameter of 5.2m and a length of over 17m. Due to the size of the mill the transportation could not be carried out on motorways and the engineering company was forced to use smaller roads and inland waterways include the River Danube. Extra challenges included using additional haulage vehicles to cope with inclines of up to almost 14%, temporarily removing electricity and telephone cables in certain locations, laying road slabs at crossroads and shutting a motorway while the mill crossed it. The total transportation time took eight days.

Austria: Scheuch Group says that it completed its 2016 – 2017 fiscal year with an order intake over Euro200m, it’s highest incoming order value ever since the company was founded in 1963. The air and environmental engineering company intends to set up a branch office in Germany concentrating on the metal industry and to strengthen the links between its two new subsidiaries in the US.

Switzerland: LafargeHolcim and employee representatives in Europe have established a new European Works Council (EWC). The forum for consultation and dialogue at a transnational level will bring together worker representatives from 19 countries with senior leaders from LafargeHolcim.

“People are essential to the success of LafargeHolcim and our commitment to social dialogue through the new European Works Council is testament to this. During a period of transformation, we recognise that ensuring the full commitment, mobilisation, and engagement of our employees is a key building block for success,” said Eric Olsen, chief executive officer of LafargeHolcim.

The EWC was established based on an agreement signed by Olsen and Executive Committee members Caroline Luscombe, responsible for Organisation and Human Resources and Roland Köhler, responsible for Europe, Australia / New Zealand and Trading as well as Sam Hägglund, General Secretary of the European Federation of Building and Woodworkers EFBWW, among other management and employee representatives. Chaired by Köhler, the EWC replaces the previous European Works Councils. Countries represented in the EWC include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.

Austria: Starlinger is targeting its Ad*Star block bottom valve sacks for the Chinese market based on their environmental performance. The packaging manufacturer says that a recent life cycle analysis study compared Ad*Star cement sacks favourable against cement sacks from sewn sacks made of recycled woven polypropylene tape fabric from China and paper sacks from Saudi Arabia. Starlinger also hopes that widespread adoption of its products in China would aid the automation of the entire chain of cement filling and transport processes, further modernising the sector. The company is preparing to exhibit at a Chinese plastic and rubber exhibition in May 2017.

Austria: Peter Oswald has been appointed as the next chief executive officer (CEO) of Mondi Group. The current CEO, David Hathorn, will retire from the role on 11 May 2017 following the group’s annual general meeting whereupon Oswald will succeed him. Subsequently Hathorn will continue to work for Mondi in an executive capacity until his retirement in February 2018.

Oswald graduated in law from the University of Vienna and in business administration from WU-Vienna Business School. He began his career with Deutsche Bank and automotive company KTM. He joined the Frantschach Group in 1992 as the head of internal audit, later becoming corporate controller. After serving as chief executive of its bag and flexibles business from 1995 to 2001, he was appointed chief executive of Mondi Packaging Europe in 2002, leading its subsequent integration with Frantschach into the new Mondi packaging division. Oswald was appointed chief executive officer of the Europe & International Division in January 2008. He is also currently serving as chairman of the Confederation of European Paper Industries.

Austria: A Tec has commissioned a Rocket Mill RM 2.50 for ASA at its waste treatment plant in Wiener Neustadt. The mill has a capacity of 7 – 40t/hr and is equipped with two grinding chambers, which can be independently loaded. Each one has a main drive with 315kW. Due to the grinding technology, it also has an additional drying effect of approximately 10%. The mill is designed to produce refuse-derived fuels (RDF) with an output size of 5 - 80mm from pre-sorted and shredded household and commercial waste. It was principally built at A Tec’s plant in Eberstein.

Austria: W&P Zement has chosen PSIglobal software from PSI Logistics to manage its production and delivery networks. The system offers the replication, analysis and composition of national, continental and global supply chains as well as optimal site planning.

The Austrian construction materials producer will firstly analyse the sites and transportation routes of its cement business in Austria, Italy and Slovenia with PSIglobal. In subsequent steps, the company will prepare the key performance indicators determined with the system and then report options for optimisation for the network through structured evaluations.

Austria/Brazil: RHI and Magnesita are to merge to create a new refractory company called RHI Magnesita. RHI’s management board has agreed to sign a share purchase agreement with Magnesita’s controlling shareholders regarding the acquisition of a controlling stake of at least 46%, but no more than 50% plus one share of the total share capital of Magnesita, pending RHI’s supervisory board approval. The purchase price for the 46% stake will be paid in cash amounting to Euro118m and 4.6 million new shares to be issued by RHI Magnesita. The new company will be established in the Netherlands and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

As pat of the agreement, GP Investments (GP) will become a relevant shareholder of RHI Magnesita. The combined company’s corporate governance will consist of on a one-tier board structure while GP will be represented on the board of directors.

The deal is dependent on approvals by the relevant competition authorities, the migration of RHI to the Netherlands, the listing of RHI Magnesita’s shares in the premium segment of the Official List on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange and RHI’s shareholders not having exceeded statutory withdrawal rights in an amount of more than Euro70m in connection with organisational changes preceding RHI’s migration from Austria. The migration and the preceding organisational changes in Austria require qualified approval by RHI’s shareholders’ meeting. If the deal is terminated for reasons not under the control of Magnesita’s controlling shareholders, an aggregate break fee of up to Euro20m is payable by RHI to Magnesita’s controlling shareholders.

The merger transaction is expected to complete in 2017. Until then, the two companies will remain completely separate and independent. Therefore customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders should expect no change in management teams, commercial relationships, supply chains and product offerings during this period.

RHI and Magnesita say that the new refractory company will bring together complementary businesses, both in terms of products and geographical footprint. Magnesita have a presence in South America and the US compared to RHI’s presence in Europe and Asia. The merger is also expected to aid the company’s position against the growing Chinese refractory industry. In addition, Magnesita’s position in dolomite-based products is complementary to RHI’s asset portfolio, which traditionally has a strong focus and an excellent market reputation for high-quality magnesite products.

Synergies from the merger are expected to deliver at least Euro36m in earnings before tax (EBIT) by 2020. However, if RHI Magnesita’s stake in Magnesita significantly exceed 46%, RHI expects substantially higher synergies of approximately Euro72m, especially in the areas of enhanced production efficiency and cost benefits in research and development, marketing and administrative functions. In addition, capital expenditure synergies are expected to amount to be Euro2 – 7m/yr and aggregate working capital savings of Euro40m are expected in the coming years.